Three charged with armed holdup at Chipotle

Updated 11:23 am, Tuesday, July 9, 2013

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Randell Clark, 23, whose last known address was in Norwalk, and two juveniles are charged with armed robbery of the Chipotle Grille in Kings Crossing shopping center on Sunday night. FAIRFIELD CITIZEN, CT 7/7/13

Randell Clark, 23, whose last known address was in Norwalk, and two juveniles are charged with armed robbery of the Chipotle Grille in Kings Crossing shopping center on Sunday night. FAIRFIELD CITIZEN, CT

A 23-year-old man and two juvenile accomplices are charged with the armed robbery of the Chipotle Mexican Grill on Grasmere Avenue late Sunday.

The trio, who held up the Kings Crossing shopping center restaurant about 10:30 p.m. Sunday while employees still were working after hours, fled into Bridgeport where they were captured a short time after their car crashed into a parked vehicle on State Street Extension and overturned, police said.

Randell Clark, 23, of Ohio Avenue in Bridgeport, and the two juveniles -- also Bridgeport residents whose names were not released because of their age -- were charged with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, third-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit third-degree larceny, interfering with an officer, possession of a firearm without a permit and first-degree reckless endangerment.

None of the restaurant workers were injured during the incident, police said.

Police said they were alerted to the robbery when a Chipotle employee called from a restaurant bathroom, where he took refuge when three armed intruders had entered after hours.

Officers arriving on the scene said the suspects fled out the restaurant's back door and sped away in a waiting car, heading east on Commerce Drive toward Bridgeport. Police broke off the initial pursuit because of dangers posed by the fleeing suspects, whose car -- its headlights turned off -- was speeding recklessly through a populated area, according to the report.

The car, however, crashed after entering Bridgeport on State Street Extension when it struck a parked vehicle and flipped over. The three suspects escaped from the wreck and fled on foot, but two of them were apprehended by Fairfield and Bridgeport police a short distance away.

Two handguns were also recovered at the scene, along with cash stolen from the restaurant, police said.

The third suspect was later found hiding in an unlocked house on Dewey Street in Bridgeport after police, assisted by Fairfield's K-9 unit, searched the area.

Two of the suspects were hospitalized for treatment of injuries they suffered in the accident, police said.